Celebrate New Year’s with these New Year’s books for little learners! There are some books about many countries and their traditions. I have also gathered some fiction and nonfiction titles that are perfect for young children. I have also included some books about kindness, perseverance, and self-confidence. The start of a new year is a great time to review these skills.
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New Year’s Books for Little Learners
Each New Year’s, Haitians celebrate with a special soup, freedom soup. Join a family as they make and practice traditions from their culture.
Spot is just a puppy and too little to stay up until midnight. So he finds new ways to celebrate the new year with his family.
A nonfiction book that shares information in an easy-to-understand format with bright pictures for little learners. This book shares about new year traditions from all over the world.
Shante Keys and the New Year’s Peas
Shante Keys is ready for her yummy New Year’s meal, but Grandma forgot the black-eyed peas. Shante now has a mission to find the black-eyed peas, so they don’t have bad luck.
Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution
Follow Squirrel on her quest to figure out what a resolution is and see what she makes hers for the new year.
Join Rafa on his first New Year’s when he gets to stay up until midnight in Spain. He is so excited, but can he make it to midnight? He sure is getting sleepy.
Join this family on their New Year’s Eve celebration and their fight to stay awake until midnight. Cupcakes, card games, and party supplies are all part of their fun!
Chinese New Year’s Books
This nonfiction National Geographics Kids book is full of bright images and simple vocabulary to share about this holiday with your students.
Learn about the Chinese New Year as you follow a family preparing their home, food, and clothing for the evening’s celebrations.
Learn about the Chinese New Year with Chelsea and her family. The simple text and bright illustrations are sure to engage your little learners.
Hong and his family are preparing for the largest Chinese holiday of the year. Plus, learn about the heritage and reasons this holiday is important to this culture.
This nonfiction book by Little Pebble is written for young children to learn with simple vocabulary and beautiful photos.
This is flip book that shows accurate Chinese New Year traditions and even shares some language throughout the book.
Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas
A new spin on Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this book is cute and shows some Chinese culture while telling the classic tale.
Another book in the How to Catch series, and this one doesn’t disappoint! Will the kids be able to catch the dragon? Read the book to see their traps and ideas.
This board book is great for little learners to be introduced to the Lunar New Year. Simple text and illustrations are great for busy kids who don’t have time to sit down.
Chinese New Year is a time of new beginnings. Follow one little girl as she learns how to welcome the coming year and experience all the festivities surrounding it.
The Chinese zodiac animals help Ruby deliver a New Year’s gift to her grandmother.
A little like the gingerbread man, the wok runs away and sends people on an adventure. When it finally returns, it has food from a rich man’s house. You can talk about generosity in this book.
New Year’s Books For Social-Emotional Skills
This book is wonderful for teaching children about the importance of being kind to the people that we meet. It can be such a simple action to change someone else’s day.
Introduce children to positive affirmations and believing in yourself. There are hard things that must be tackled in life, and it is important that we are teaching our children to persevere and believe in themselves.
Todd Parr delivers another great text for little learners. Silliness and great illustrations are sure to captivate your students while they learn about kindness.
The Magic of Me: My Magical Words
Show your children that it is important to speak positivity into their lives and not negative self-thoughts. Words are powerful, and none of us like to hear our students speaking badly about themselves.
Teach your students about perseverance and teamwork in this story about the train that keeps going even when times are tough. Rhymes, animals, and trains are going to draw your students in.
I hope you love these New Year’s books for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten students. There is a wide variety for several teaching options in your classroom. What New Year’s books are you reading this January?
Check out this post for ideas for the whole classroom for a New Year theme.
Check out this post for sensory bin ideas for all the holidays!
Love these New Year’s books? Pin this image!
For more of my favorite books, check out my themed Book List Blog Series that features themed book lists to accompany your lessons and activities! These are sure to keep your library shelves full! If there is a book list for a theme you need, just let us know so we can create it for you!
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I’m Jackie, your go-to girl for early childhood inspiration and research-based curriculum.
